Nelson Mandela Bay residents in South Africa may be required to repay electricity rebates — Daily Maverick
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality in South Africa may require residents to repay electricity rebates and credits if it wins a court case over retaining a flat tariff of 4.50 rand per unit of electricity. Earlier, the Gqeberha High Court ordered the municipality to restore the block tariff system, under which the first 300 units of electricity per month cost less.
As Daily Maverick reports, on August 4, 2026, the court also ordered that consumers be credited with the amounts they overpaid after the previous system was abolished. The municipality agreed to comply with the urgent ruling but is preparing to defend its position during the hearing of the next part of the case filed by the Democratic Alliance.
Municipality’s position
Acting city manager Lonwabo Ngogo said the municipality’s budget was drawn up on the basis of the flat 4.50 rand tariff. According to him, returning to the block tariff could lead to a deficit and require budget adjustments.
Ngogo noted that the municipality is obliged to begin the rebate process due to the current court ruling. At the same time, in the next part of the proceedings, city authorities plan to explain why, in their view, the city cannot return to the block tariff. A hearing date has not yet been set, but the municipality expects to return to court before the December recess.
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Regulator’s decision and rebates
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said that energy regulator Nersa approved changes on September 7 to return affected residential consumers to the block tariff. The decision applies only to residential customer categories that were moved to the flat rate in the 2026/27 financial year.
At the same time, Nersa did not approve the municipality’s proposed monthly base charge of 91.54 rand for prepaid residential customers. The city proposed this fee as a way to partially offset the expected loss of revenue after lower tariffs were restored.
The rebate process has been accompanied by problems: some residents continued to be charged the flat rate from September 1, while some consumers have not yet received rebate tokens. Ngogo said the municipality is analysing billing data from July 1 to identify cases in which customers suffered losses. If the city succeeds in retaining the flat rate in court, it intends to recover the rebates and credits granted to consumers through adjustments to future electricity payments.
